The line between work and retirement is becoming increasingly blurred as many Generation X Britons are likely to live longer and healthier lives than baby boomers, new research shows.

Today’s 45-year-olds can expect to live three years longer on average than today’s 65-year-olds, with some of that extra time in better health, according to a new study by Fidelity International and the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing.

This means that Britons are increasingly approaching retirement age in good health - and therefore more able to work for longer too, the report says. It also means that those in their forties need to keep this in mind when planning for their retirement.

Good health: Research shows people are in better health as they hit traditional retirement ages

Both men and women are expected to live longer and healthier lives, although for men the effect is much more pronounced, according to the analysis of official data.

The average death age for a 65-year-old woman today is 86 and 5 months, but in 20-years’ time this is forecast to rise to 89. That means that women who are 45 today are expected to live on average an extra 2 years and seven months.

For men, the average age at death for 65-year-olds is forecast to climb to 87 years by 2036, up from 84 years and 1 month today - an extra 2 years and 11 months.

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Ed Monk, associate director for Personal Investing at Fidelity International, said the findings challenged the current view of life divided equally between education, work and retirement and reminded Generation X that they will need to consider those extra years when planning for retirement.

‘The value of this research is that it goes beyond broad trends to examine more closely what those years of extra life look like,’ he said.

‘The fact that it is not just overall life expectancy that is growing but time lived in good health too suggests that the current structure of a third of life spent in education, a third in work and a third retired is rapidly being overtaken, and the line between work and retirement is becoming more blurred.’

Dr George Leeson, director and senior research fellow, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, said the report showed how life transitions were being pushed back.

'Clearly individuals and communities, workplaces and families need to take these bodies of evidence on board with regard to their own forward planning and strategies.'

Life expectancy: Both men and women are expected to live longer

Using separate official data from 2011, the report shows how that the number of years spent in good health is rising, and that the time spent in good health has grown by more than a year on average in just a decade.

As life expectancy increases, men hitting retirement can expect to live on average a year and eight months in good health more than their counterparts in 2000. For women it's much less - 10 extra months on average, according to research.

‘This means that, in general, the population on average is staying healthier for longer, and is therefore more able to work for longer too. This research indicates that people are in better health as they hit traditional retirement ages,’ Monk added.

The report comes as separate research suggests that the 'in between' generation, or those aged 35 to 54 years old, is set to face the biggest challenge to save up for retirement as it is caught in between the slow decline of defined benefit pensions and the roll-out of automatic enrolment.